Freeze Me Again to Death
by Broken Boys
Summary: A creature tries to kill Dean by freezing him from the neck down in a block of ice. Sam has to race to save his brother or risk losing him.


_what power art thou  
who from below  
hast made me rise  
unwillingly and slow  
from beds of everlasting snow?  
see'st thou not how stiff and wondrous  
old far unfit to bear the bitter cold  
I can scarcely move or draw my breath?  
let me, let me  
freeze again to death ~ Purcell's 'Cold Song'_

~ ~ ~

It was like something from a horror movie. It was something that no one should be able to survive. And maybe, just maybe having been there to witness the spirit shoving his brother into a tub of water and then freezing it solid - just being there and being able to react so quickly had saved his brother.

Using an iron rod from his bag of weapons, Sam had quickly started to chip away at the ice encasing his brother.

That had been nearly thirty minutes ago.

Thirty minutes of Sam working so frantically that sweat was pouring down his face and running down his back. Thirty minutes of Dean slowly losing feeling, first in his fingers and toes and then in his arms and legs. Thirty minutes of them both knowing that if Dean's face hadn't been above water when it'd been frozen and he'd been encased that he would have died within minutes. Thirty minutes of them both coming to the realization that hypothermia would soon finish what the spirit had started if Dean wasn't freed and warmed up quickly.

The only thing working in their favor was that the spirit hadn't reappeared.

"Pleee-ase hur-ry, Sam-my," Dean chattered out through a mouth and lips that had gone completely numb. He was starting to feel sleepy. So incredibly tired. The only thing he wanted to do was close his eyes for just a minute, but he knew if that happened he more than likely would never wake up.

"I'm sorry, Dean. I'm doing this as fast as I can, man. I don't want to hurt you. If I break this the wrong way - damn, man. This shit can cut you." Sam said as he worked diligently, yet carefully to chip and break away the ice surrounding his brother. "Just stay awake for me, man. Don't go to sleep on me, okay."

"Oh-okay," Dean said as he fought against a growing feeling of fatigue to stay focused.

At the age of ten, he'd fallen into an icy lake. At the time, he knew he'd never felt colder in his life. His bones and joints had ached for days after, and the only reason he hadn't ended up in a hospital was because he never told anyone about the pain.

At the age of fifteen, he'd been accidentally locked in a cooler at a food storage facility for nearly two hours. He'd been unconscious by the time he was found. The only reason he hadn't died, based on what the doctors had said, was because he was 'young and strong.'

However, now, at twenty-five, freezing to death felt more real, more painful, more absolute than ever before.

Not being able to move meant not being able to shiver, so the cold was able to penetrate his skin and muscles and down to his bones with no resistance. This cold was different from the one he'd felt at ten and different from the cold he'd felt at fifteen. This cold was Death wrapping its long arms around him and welcoming him home.

"Sam-my, I'm sor-so-sorry. I ca-can't." Dean said as he felt his eyes becoming more and more heavy. The edges of his vision were greying and rapidly moving inward. The only parts of his body that still felt any warmth were his chest and his gut, and they both were telling him that if he had to die like this, at least his brother would be there when it happened. Sam's presence would make it not so frightening to fall into the grey.

"What? You can't what, Dean?" Sam said as he continued to work. Dean was almost free. Sam knew that Dean couldn't feel it because of the effects of the cold, but there was almost enough of the ice removed so that Sam would be able to get his brother out of the tub.

Relief was starting to race through his veins like a drug.

That was until he actually took a second to look up from his work to see what his brother was talking about. That was until Dean's appearance, both the expression on his face and the pallor of it, turned the relief in his veins to dread.

Sam saw regret mixed with a finite acceptance as Dean's eyes slipped closed.

"Damnit, Dean! Wake up!" Sam yelled as he was finally able to throw down the iron rod so that he could reach into the tub and drag his brother out and onto the floor.

"Wake up, man. Wake the hell up," Sam pleaded as he forcefully rubbed at his brother's sternum.

All he received was a deep, pained groan in reply, but that was enough for him.

Moving with speed, Sam got his barely conscious brother standing and then up over his shoulder and carried him out to the Impala.

In any other situation, he maybe would have waited until they got to a hotel to help his brother, but this was not any other situation. Sam knew he had to act, and he had to act fast. Thankfully, it was the middle of the night and they were outside of an old abandoned house, so no one would be there to witness what was about to take place.

Sam started the car and put the heater on high. Having placed his brother face up lying down on the back seat, Sam climbed over on top of him and started removing his brother's slightly wet clothes. There were already bruises forming on Dean's chest and legs and Sam knew they'd been inadvertently caused by pieces and chucks of ice being pushed into and banging against his skin as he'd worked to free him.

After removing all of his brother's clothes, he started working on removing his own, only allowing his boxers to stay. By the time he had them both undressed, the interior of the car was warm. Gently, so as not to hurt Dean further, Sam lowered his body on top of his brother's so that they were lying chest to chest. He used his hands to rub warmth into his brother's frozen arms and rubbed his legs against Dean's to warm them as well.

It took about five minutes for Dean to start to come around.

An outsider looking in on the two brother's tangled together may have viewed the situation as odd, but neither brother did. Sam could barely see through his tears of joy when Dean slurred into his ear, "Get 'offa m-me, y-you giant."

An outsider looking in on the two brother's tangled together may have viewed the situation as odd, but Dean viewed it for what it was.

Sam had saved him.

_from beds of everlasting snow  
let me freeze again to death_

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


End file.
